Behold, She Blogs Again!

July 11, 2011

I’ve been MIA from blogging for a really long stretch but I don’t need to tell you that. Those of you who follow me on Facebook know the reason for my absence has been because of my brother Randy. He was diagnosed with ALS in October 2009 and from the start the disease progressed rapidly. By late fall of 2010 I started spending more and more time in Oregon just to be with my brother and his wife and to help out around the house. Three months ago on April 19 Randy died from ALS. His wife, my brother and sister, and I were all there with him. He was a generous and compassionate man, a loyal friend to everyone he met, and the best of brothers.

I haven’t forgotten over these months I’ve been gone from blogging that every day there are men, women, and young people caught in the internal conflict of reconciling their faith and sexuality; that GLBTQ people continue to be rejected by their families and condemned by their churches, and that the fight for equal rights and against lies and mistruths that devalue our worth and discredit our relationships continues on. I haven’t forgotten any of this nor have I forgotten you, but for a season in my life, as it should have been, my brother trumped everything and everyone in my life.

And while life is returning to normal, it’s a new normal with a new purpose and that’s to provide support for others living with ALS by raising money and awareness consider this disease. Helping others living with ALS was important to my brother and so in continuing his legacy and honoring his life, it’s important to me. Again, if we’re Facebook Buddies you know what I’m referring to and if you don’t, just check out Sweet Hope Cookies. Better yet, order Sweet Hope Cookies

But I also want you to know that this new purpose doesn’t replace SisterFriends-Together but is in addition to what we have going on here. My heart is still here even while it’s there and in both places I just want to do what any of us want to do, to try and make life a little better for someone else. Ease their suffering. Give them hope. Lend a helping hand. And so while at first glance SisterFriends Together and Sweet Hope Cookies seem like very different directions for me to take, the purpose at the heart of both is very much the same.

I just wanted to fill you in on what’s been happening and to let you know I’m still around and have no plans to leave. I love this place and I know the conversations we have are important to those who are beginning the journey that many of us have been on for a long long time. We have much to teach one another and we have even more to learn from one another. Please continue to be patient with me and my spotty blogging as I find a way to balance out my time between baking cookies over there and breaking the bread over here.

Posted in SisterFriends